Kakashi’s POV:
I woke up early, as usual. I never understood why people always thought I slept in: just because I’m late doesn’t mean I sleep all the time. I’m usually just at the K.I.A. stone, thinking about everything. I walked into the kitchen to see Amaya leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and her head down, her eyes closed.
“So, you’re finally up, eh?”
“Obviously. Wait, when did you get up?”
“A long time before you did, that’s for sure.”
I vaguely thought of having a small competition to see if I could ever catch her asleep as I grabbed something to eat. Amaya stared at me just as I was about to pull my mask down to quickly eat.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
“What, you scared I’ll see your face?” she sneered.
“There’s a reason I wear the mask, you know.”
She smirked and stepped over to me, an interesting gleam in her eyes. I looked at her suspiciously as she stepped so close that we were almost touching. She walked her fingers up my chest and looked into my eye, a small smile on her face.
“Why do you wear the mask, then?” she said, her voice low and seductive.
“I…er…uh…wear it because people…er…mistake me for my…father if I don’t…”
“Oh, if that’s all,” she said, abruptly turning away and walking back to stand as she had before.
I blinked a few times to clear my head. “Uh…what the hell was that?”
She chuckled and looked up at me. “It’s called using a man’s weakness against him, baka,” she sneered.
I glared and ate too quickly for her to notice and turned to leave the room, but I didn’t see her there anymore. When had she left? I hadn’t heard her leave, and now she was seemingly out of the house completely. Sighing, I grabbed my things and walked outside towards the K.I.A. stone, where I stared at Obito’s name, thinking of all my regrets as I normally did.
“You’re late as usual,” an annoying voice sneered.
“Alright, alright. I’m going already,” I muttered.
I turned to leave and noticed she was gone. How did she do that? With another sigh, I walked to the Hokage’s office where Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, and Amaya were all waiting, rather impatiently, for me. I scratched the back of my neck with a closed eye smile and walked inside with them. They gave us the mission of rescuing the Feudal Lords Wife’s cat, Tora. At some point, I noticed Iruka mouth, ‘Conference room, four hours?’ to which Amaya nodded with a slight smile. I raised my eyebrow and resolved to see what they were up to. For now, though, I had to focus on the mission. Amaya followed behind us, her nose stuck in her book.
“What is the distance to the target?” I asked through our earpieces.
“Geeze, Hatake. Don’t you ever take a break and relax on a mission?” I glared at her. “Geeze, you’ll catch karoshi…” (death from overwork)
“Shut up already. We’re on a mission,” I snapped, then turned my attention to the team again. “Ok, go!”
The ghenin pounced and captured the cat. We returned it to the Feudal Lord’s wife, and found out exactly why it had run away.
“Ooooh! My cute little Tora-chan! I was so worried!” the woman exclaimed.
Amaya sweatdropped, and I could tell everyone was thinking something along the same lines as I was; poor cat…Still, we finished our mission and the team was paid. Oddly enough, Amaya didn’t get any money. Maybe because guarding Naruto was her mission. As soon as we were all dismissed, Amaya walked casually towards the conference room, followed by Iruka. I raised an eyebrow and followed them, making sure to keep out of sight. I heard their voices from outside the door.
“So he followed us here and he’s right outside the door? How can you possibly know that?”
“My Reoka,” Amaya replied.
“Your…what?”
“Reoka. It’s our family’s kekkei genkai. Basically, it has all of the abilities of the Sharingan and Byakugan. Only it has a much longer range than the Byakugan. About a ten mile radius, there’s no blind spot, and it uses virtually no chakra.”
“That’s amazing…”
“Yeah…So, Kakashi. Are you going to continue to act as a coward, or are you going to come in?” she called, and I could hear the smirk in her voice. I sighed and walked in to the room, where Amaya and Iruka were looking at me. “So glad you could join us. Would you like some lunch? Tea?”
“Um…No thanks. So, why are you two meeting in secrecy?”
“Why are you following us?”
I opened my mouth to say some smart-alec comment, then decided it wasn’t worth it. She smirked and propped her feet on the table, so she was facing me, and crossed her arms over her chest. She locked eyes with me, and I found that I couldn’t move.
“What’s the matter? You don’t know why you’re following us? Maybe you’re jealous that Iruka gets the attention and you don’t. Ah, Hokage-sama, how are you today?”
“Amaya, Iruka, Kakashi. I trust you are all having a good day?”
“Just fine, Lord Hokage. And yourself?” she asked him, her eyes never leaving mine.
“A nice day, to be sure. Is there something I need to know about, Amaya?”
She smiled and finally broke eye contact. I suddenly got a headache. “No, Lord Hokage, there is nothing you need to know at the moment, other than the fact that a man is on his way to your office, most likely giving the Leaf Village another mission. Although, he won’t be here until tomorrow morning.”
“How do you know that?”
“Reoka.”
The Hokage nodded and walked to his office, and I turned back to Amaya. “I’m going to figure out what you’re hiding one day, Amaya.”
She chuckled softly and shook her head. “We’ll just see if you do,” she said, and stood up. “Well, I’m going to go home and rest.”
She left the room, leaving only Iruka and I standing there. He looked kind of angry. “Hm? Is something wrong?”
“Huh? Nope! I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Kakashi!” he said, then walked out of the room.
“There’s definitely something going on here...,” I muttered, then walked home to read.
Amaya was lying on her stomach on the couch, one arm hanging off the side. It didn’t look like she was breathing, so I walked over and looked more closely. She definitely wasn’t breathing, so I shook her shoulder.
“Touch me again. I dare you,” she growled, not opening her eyes.
“Excuse me for worrying about having to deal with a homicide case…”
“Huh?”
“You weren’t breathing. Want to tell me why?”
“It’s called holding my breath. Now will you leave me alone? I was focusing.”
I sighed and walked to my room. She wasn’t just holding her breath, and I was starting to get the feeling that maybe the rumors were true. No, they couldn’t be. The rumors were way too far-fetched to be true. Sighing, I walked to my room and lay down on the bed to read.
Morning:
“Huh? I must have fallen asleep reading. Oh well.” I muttered, getting up and going to the restroom to take a shower. The water was already running, so I leaned against the opposite wall and waited.
…
…
And waited.
…
…
And waited.
…
…
Finally, I got fed up and knocked on the door.
“Can’t you hear the water running?! I’m taking a shower!”
“You’ve been in there for at least a half hour!”
“So?! I was here first, you can wait! Geeze, let me enjoy a nice shower, will you?!”
“We’re going to be late!”
“So what? You’re always late!”
I growled and slammed my fist against the door a few times. “Geeze! Alright already!”
The water turned off and I heard some footsteps, a pause, and more footsteps. Then the door opened to reveal Amaya with water glistening on her skin wearing only a towel that managed to show off her nice curves. Her long, wet,silver hair stuck to her back, but still managed to add a new level of beauty. I blinked a few times, then shook my head and walked past her. But as I did, she became incredibly tense, then quickly walked to her room. Just as I was about to close the door, though, a hand stopped me.
“You know, I’ve never known anyone who could get her so angry so quickly. Congratulations.”
It sounded like Kiyoshi. I followed the hand to the face. Yep. Kiyoshi.
“How did you get in here?”
“I’m pretty good at getting in and out of places. So why do you keep trying to get her angry? I think I’ve warned you that it’s not a good idea, didn’t I?” I shrugged. “What is your problem with my sister?”
“Well, she’s not really your sister, is she?” I demanded.
“What are you talking about? Of course she’s my sister! Now what is your problem with her?”
I shrugged and closed the door, then turned around. Kiyoshi was leaning against the far wall, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.
“Look, your sister is a jerk to me when I try to be polite to her. So I’ve given up trying to be polite. It’s not worth the waste of energy.”
He scoffed. “You’re just like the others. She’s really not that bad once you get to know her. Besides, you already find her physically attractive. Just don’t give up when it comes to her.”
He finally poofed away and I could finally take my shower. I turned off the water and stepped out to get dressed, then walked to my room to get my weapons pouch. I walked out of the house and headed towards the K.I.A. stone, but suddenly found myself outside the Hokage’s mansion.
“What the hell?”
“We’re not going to be late today.” Amaya’s annoyed voice said from right behind me. I raised an eyebrow. “I’ve got a feeling that something big is going to happen.”
I shrugged and we walked into the Hokage’s office.
“Hmm…Team seven, your next duty is…Baby-sitting an elder’s grandson, shopping in the neighboring village, helping with potato digging…”
“No, no, no thank you! I want a real mission! We’re real ninjas, aren’t we? I want a real mission!” Naruto yelled over the Hokage.
It looked like Sakura and Sasuke were thinking the same thing. ‘Well, it was about time for this to happen, I guess.’
Amaya’s POV:
As soon as Naruto and the Hokage started arguing, I pulled out my book, put my earphones in, and jacked the volume all the way up. There was no way I was going to listen to annoying arguments. I was lost in my book and almost screamed about fifteen minutes later when an earphone was pulled out of my ear.
“Amaya, you’re team left to get ready.”
“Without telling me? That was nice of them. About how long are we going to be gone?”
“Maybe a few days, why?”
“Because I may need to hunt. Well, I’ll see you around, Iruka,” I told him, and poofed myself to the house, where I beat Kakashi by a good ten minutes.
I gathered my things, mainly a days worth of blood (all I could take without it going bad), and a weapons pouch with some medical stuff and of course weapons, also bringing the next book (which Kiyoshi had left on my bed while we were gone), and a few extra outfits. I was completely ready to go, and Kakashi still wasn’t home, so I packed his things, too, even being nice enough to pack his weapons and masks, and all that good stuff. After making sure everything was packed, I walked out to the front porch and locked the door, then leaned against the wall to wait.
“You’re ready to go already?”
“So are you. Even monsters can be nice every now and then,” I said, tossing him his back. He took it and looked at me incredulously. “Is it really that big of a surprise that I can do something nice?”
He just shrugged and we walked to the gates. The team and an old man were waiting for us.
“Who’s this?” the man asked.
“My assistant sensei.”
“The hell I am,” I snapped. “I’m here to make sure you guys stay safe. Just think of me as your friendly neighborhood bodyguard extraordinaire, Amaya Tsukiko.”
“Tsukiko?” Kakashi asked, confused.
“My last name before Kiyoshi found me. So, what, may I ask, is your name?” I asked, turning my attention to the man.
“Weren’t you in the room with us? You should’ve been paying attention instead of just listening to your music and reading,” the man snapped. “I am the wonderful master bridge maker, Tazuna.”
Ok, ego much? This guy was really getting on my nerves. I had a feeling I was going to run out of blood before this mission was over, so I had to stay clear of this guy if I happened to get hungry. Actually, I had to stay clear of Kakashi, too. His blood was just too tempting. A breeze blew, and I was downwind of Kakashi. Damn, this mission was going to be fun…not. I sighed and took a sip from my flask, then looked at the guy, deciding not to waist my manners on him.
“Listen to me, and listen well. I don’t think you want to get on my nerves, because I’m going to have a hard time controlling myself on this mission. Now if I were you, I’d quit with the attitude and keep your mouth shut until we get you to the bridge and you finish it. Got it?”
He blinked a few times, and the entire group was staring at me like I had gone insane. “Who the hell do you think you are, talking to your client like that?” he snapped.
I growled and stuck my headphones back in, jacking the volume up again. If someone tried to sneak up on us, I’d be able to smell them or see them with my Reoka, which I had switched on. After some arguing between Naruto and Tazuna, we all started walking. Throw Yourself Away was the current song at the moment, so I turned the volume up as high as it would go, knowing that everyone else could probably hear it clearly as well. I smelled someone but didn’t see anything. Just a puddle. Puddle? It hadn’t rained lately. I jerked my head towards the puddle and took a deep breath. It was still pretty faint. Mist ninja, probably. Damn them for using water. Kakashi noticed the puddle as well, and we nodded at each other, signaling that we knew we weren’t the only ninja here. He used Kawarimi, or substitution jutsu, and jumped into the trees without being noticed. I gave my iPod to the clone so no one would suspect that I wasn’t there and followed, crouching next to the real Kakashi.
“So, why are you being so nice all of the sudden?” he asked.
“I figure if we’re going to be working together, we may as well get along. Besides, there’s no use being enemies when we’re really comrades,” I whispered in reply. “There’s two of them.”
He looked at me, confused, and I pointed to my Reoka. He nodded, and we watched the ghenin, waiting for the two men following us to attack. We didn’t have to wait long, as the men attacked the substitution Kakashi first, ripping him to shreds. The ghenin were frozen in shock, and Naruto got captured. I growled and went to kick the guy’s ass, but Kakashi held me back. I sighed and sat back; Naruto had to learn to fight. I couldn’t baby him, so I watched.
Sasuke caught the men’s chains in the tree and kicked them both in the head, spinning them so the chains broke. I raised an eyebrow, but continued to watch. One of the men lunged at Naruto, and another lunged at Tazuna. Sakura jumped in the way to protect Tazuna and Sasuke jumped in front of Sakura, but Naruto just stood there. Kakashi and I both jumped down to stop the men, Kakashi to protect Tazuna, me to protect Naruto. Unfortunately, Naruto had been cut and was bleeding. I tensed and crouched next to him as Kakashi tied up the two men I now knew as the Demon Brothers.
“Naruto, we need to open that wound and get the poison out.” It didn’t look like he heard me. He was staring at Sasuke, jealousy etched on his face.
“Are you ok, little girl?” Sasuke asked.
“Shove it, emo boy.” I snapped, then took Naruto’s hand. “Naruto, look at me, ok?” he locked eyes with me. “I’m going to have to suck the poison out.”
“What are you talking about? Then we’ll have to get it out of you!” Kakashi said, walking over and crouching next to Naruto as well.
“No we won’t. Poison doesn’t affect me anymore.” I said, taking a kunai out. “Do you want to open the wound, or do you want me to?” He took a few steps backwards and walked off a bit, then stabbed himself in the hand with the kunai. I tensed even more as a breeze blew the scent of blood my way.”
Yep. I was right, this mission is going to be hell. Naruto made a little speech about continuing the mission, and I saw blood dripping down his hand. I couldn’t hold my breath without arousing suspicion, and I couldn’t drink from my flask if I wanted it to last the day. Naruto walked back to us, and I took his hand again. Kakashi was staring at me, probably wondering what my problem was, but then he crouched next to Naruto as well.
“Naruto, it’s great that you removed the blood so spiritedly, but if you lose any more, you’ll die. Seriously,” Kakashi said with a closed eye smile.
‘Yeah, he’ll die because I won’t be able to control myself.’ I thought to myself.
Naruto started freaking out, so I grabbed him by the shoulder and held him still while Kakashi bandaged the wound. It was already starting to heal. Kakashi and I exchanged glances, thinking the same thing; it was probably the work of the nine-tailed fox.
“Sensei...” Kakashi turned to Tazuna, and I walked to the ghenin. “I…have to talk to you.”
We nodded and continued on our way, Kakashi and I at the back. “Why won’t poison bother you?”
Thank god I had been thinking of lies for that already. “I’ve tried to off myself with poison so many times that it just doesn’t affect me anymore.”
“And your reaction to Naruto’s blood? You tensed up like you were restraining yourself.”
“Yeah, restraining myself from throwing up. I hate the smell of blood.”
“Hm…”
I knew he didn’t believe me, but at the moment I didn’t care. We boarded a boat, and I listened to my iPod and read again for a while. Besides, the only reason I was on this mission was to protect Naruto, so I didn’t really have to listen to everything. Once we got to the docks, Tazuna and the team started talking about a man named Gatou, who wanted Tazuna dead for building the bridge. I sighed; stupid humans worried about the most idiotic things…
“Well…if you quit the mission now, I will definitely be killed. But…Don’t worry about it! If I die, my cute 10 year old grandson will just cry for a few days! Oh yeah! And my daughter will live a sad life hating Leaf Ninja forever. But it won’t be your fault. Not at all!”
“Ooh, nice guilt trip. I’ve got to give you your props, Tazuna. You sure know how to get what you want,” I said, genuinely congratulating him.
“Well, I guess we have no choice. We’ll protect you at least until you get to your country,” Kakashi said, shooting me a quick glare. I smiled and waved like a stupid schoolgirl with a crush to mock him, and he rolled his eye.
We reached the country and headed towards the bridge. Tazuna ordered us to get him home safely. We were relatively near his home when Naruto started acting like an idiot and throwing shuriken everywhere, despite our protests. I sighed and got his weapons back, coming across a snow rabbit.
“Oi! Naruto, you moron! Look what you’ve done!” I said, pointing to the rabbit, though I was looking at Kakashi, making sure he knew there weren’t supposed to be any snow rabbits in spring. He did. “Kakashi, there’s someone close…” I muttered, and he nodded. “Everyone, get down!” I yelled, jumping above the sword that was flying towards us.
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the Hidden Mist’s missing-nin, Zabuza Momochi,” Kakashi said, standing up. Naruto tried to attack, but I held him back. “Everyone, get back. This one’s on a whole other level…” he said, then quietly added, “Amaya, keep Tazuna and the ghenin safe.”
“Yeah, yeah…Kill-joy.” I muttered, and I could’ve sworn his cheek twitched in a smile. “Just one thing.” He looked at me. “If I think you’re having too much fun, I may step in.”
He rolled his eye and I made the ghenin back up to give Kakashi and Zabuza room to fight.
“It’ll be a little tough…unless I do this,” he said, raising his headband to show his Sharingan.
“You must be the Copy Ninja Kakashi, owner of the Sharingan,” Zabuza said, looking down. “Sorry, but the old man is mine.”
“Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura. Help Amaya protect Tazuna-san. Do not enter the fight, that is the teamwork here. Zabuza, first…fight me.”
“Men…Always trying to be so macho…” I muttered, and Sakura giggled. I needed my wings for this, and I knew it. But I couldn’t make them form without letting everyone know what I was. “Let’s see…Angel of Death jutsu.” I muttered, and allowed my wings to grow, as well as made my fangs grow to their proper length, instead of their human length that we used to avoid suspicion. At the same time, I turned on my Reoka and waited for the fight.
“Ah…I already get to see the infamous Sharingan. I’m honored,” Zabuza replied sarcastically.
“Sakura, have you ever noticed that men are always talking for about ten minutes before they actually fight?” She giggled again, but I saw Kakashi shoot me a quick glare. I shrugged and turned my iPod back on while I waited for the actual fighting to begin.
“Hey! Don’t listen to that while you’re fighting to protect me!”
“Shut it, old man, and let me do my thing. You know nothing of my fighting styles,” I snapped, keeping an eye on everything with my Reoka. He shut up and instead watched what was going on.
Suddenly, Zabuza jumped and landed in the river, using the Hidden Mist jutsu. At the same time, he made a water clone. I kept an eye on the water clone, but noticed that Kakashi made one as well. Kakashi warned us to be careful, and I took deep, even breaths, half raising my wings, and bearing my fangs. The mist got thicker, which Naruto was stupid enough to scream at the top of his lungs.
“Eight choices…” The ghenin all looked around, searching for Zabuza’s voice, even though I knew exactly where it was. “Liver, lungs, spine, clavicle vein, neck vein, brain, kidneys and heart…which one should I choose?”
Kakashi did some sort of gen-jutsu, and I released it, instead keeping an eye on the clone. The ghenin were starting to freak out.
“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you all, even if it costs me my life,” I blinked, surprised, and he turned to us, “I don’t let my comrades die.”
“We’ll see about that!” Zabuza yelled.
His clone finally appeared…luckily for us, right in between Tazuna, the ghenin, and me. I growled, and prepared to attack him, butt he moved the tip of his sword, slicing my wing. Feathers flew everywhere; I hissed in pain and held the wound, grateful I couldn’t bleed.
“It’s over.” Zabuza said, smirking.
Kakashi destroyed his clone just as he was about to kill all five of us. “Kakashi! Behind you!” I warned, and then his clone was destroyed by another Zabuza clone. Suddenly, the real Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza with a kunai at his neck. I bit the fake Zabuza’s neck in the jugular, destroying him, and spat out the water. “Kakashi, behind you is the real one!” I yelled, giving him just enough time to dodge a swipe with the sword.
However, Zabuza was prepared and kicked Kakashi in the chest, sending him flying into the river. He appeared next to Kakashi, and caught him in a water prison. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I tensed when Zabuza created yet another clone and sent it to fight us. I tensed and raised my wings, ignoring the pain. Zabuza went on and on about what it is to be a ninja, and suddenly kicked Naruto in the chest, sending him flying past us. I growled and bared my fangs, and Kakashi and I screamed for us to run away. I chuckled and lunged jumped up, flying past the clone and trying to attack the real Zabuza, but I was kicked and sent flying, which I easily recovered from, and decided it was best to stay with the ghenin. Somehow, Naruto had gotten his forehead protector back.
“Hey, you eyebrow-less freak,” I rolled my eyes, but Naruto continued, “Put this in your handbook. The man who will one day become Hokage: The Village Hidden In The Leaves’ Naruto Uzumaki!”
We all looked at him in surprise, and I could tell he was coming up with a plan. Just in case that one, whatever it was, didn’t work, I started forming my own.
“Hey, Sasuke!”
“What is it?”
“I have a plan.”
“Hn. Teamwork from you?”
“Now, let’s get wild!”
“A lot of arrogance, but…do you even stand a chance?”
This was bad. There was no way three ghenin could take on one jounin and bring him down. I need a good plan of action, and quickly.
“What are you doing?! Run away! This fight was over the second I was captured! Your duty is to protect Tazuna, did you forget that?!”
“Hey, you idiot! You’re the one who forgot something! They have me,” I said, forcing Zabuza to turn his attention to me while the ghenin talked about their plan.
I ran at the clone and tried to bite it’s neck, but it dodged and sliced it’s sword, once again cutting my wings. I ignored the pain and spun to kick the real Zabuza, anything to buy the kids time. I had to think quick, but suddenly Naruto created a large number of clones and attacked the Zabuza clone. I went after the real Zabuza, but he caught my arm and I was thrown into a tree; I broke one of my wings and it was impossible to fly. At least it was the wing that had been sliced a few times. Naruto’s clones were destroyed and he screamed Sasuke’s name. Sasuke threw a windmill shuriken, which Zabuza caught, but there was another one in the shadow of the first. Clever. But Zabuza dodged that one. However, I saw that Naruto was behind him, with a kunai in his hand, ready to throw.
